Roman Catholic Cathedral Of St George

Roman Catholic Cathedral of St George

This Catholic cathedral on Lambeth Road in Southwark was built between 1841 and 1848 to designs by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. The building was restored and redecorated between 1888 and 1905 by FA Walters. Following substantial war damage, it was largely rebuilt and extended in 1953 by Higgs and Hill working to designs by Romilly B Craze based on Pugin's original plans.

The cathedral is constructed of yellow stock brick with Portland stone dressings and slate roofs. Only fragments of Pugin's original Decorated Gothic work survive, including the east end, the lowest part of the west tower, the aisle walls and some internal details. The building predominantly displays a 20th-century Gothic Revival style.

The plan comprises a western tower, a tall eight-bay nave with clerestory (an addition to Pugin's design), aisles and pseudo-transepts. A large tower and spire originally intended for the west end was never built.

The west front features a parapeted elevation with full-height buttresses, stone statues in niches at their bases, and a central ashlar doorcase with moulded pointed arch. A large 20th-century six-light traceried window occupies the upper portion. A baptistry north of the entrance, completed in 1966, has a three-light window and pyramidal roof. The southern return displays single-storey buttressed aisles with traceried windows and parapet. Gabled transepts are formed by heightening the east bays of the aisles, while the east end is flanked by small stone turrets with conical roofs.

The interior features massive stone piers designed to support an elaborate stone vault over the nave, simplified during construction to transverse arches with a boarded ceiling between them. The aisles contain chapels at their east ends with flying ribs creating the illusion of vaulting. A series of small chapels extends from the south aisle, with a larger Lady Chapel extension (1961-3) at the south east. The crossing occupies the seventh bay, with the sanctuary extended into the final bay of the nave. A gallery at the west end has gabled pseudo-transepts created by the heightening of the aisles.

The cathedral contains several important chapels. The Petre Chantry (1848-9) is in Perpendicular style by Pugin with a vaulted roof, angel finials and original furnishings including a table tomb and carved altarpiece depicting the Virgin and Child with angels. The Blessed Sacrament Chapel (1856-7) was designed by Edward Welby Pugin in refined Gothic with a vault supported by thin internal piers linked to outer walls by transoms; it features well-carved capitals with birds and a frieze, together with original altar, reredos, encaustic tiles and gates by Hardman. The Knill Chantry and St Patrick's Chapel was begun in 1845 as a chantry for George Talbot, completed as a relics chapel in 1905 and largely reconstructed after the war. St Joseph's Chapel was converted from the Weld Chantry of 1890 and features a stone vault. The Lady Chapel (1961-3) contains a small 18th-century Flemish Virgin and Child.

Large Decorated chancel windows and north aisle windows represent the remains of Pugin's original work. Stained glass in the east and west windows was created by Henry Clarke Studios of Dublin.

The cathedral's history reflects a compromise between ambition and practicality. Although Pugin won a competition held in 1839, his original grand scheme was rejected as too expensive. The more modest plan that was adopted was dictated by the restricted nature of the site, as there was formerly a built-up road immediately to the north.